President Obama supports requiring women to register for Selective
Service when they turn 18 -- becoming the first president to endorse
universal draft registration since Jimmy Carter.

"As old barriers for military service are being removed, the
administration supports -- as a logical next step -- women registering for
the Selective Service," said Ned Price, a spokesman for Obama's
National Security Council.

The White House had previously expressed neutrality on the
controversy, but took a position in a statement to USA TODAY on Thursday.

But the timing of Obama's support makes it mostly symbolic,
coming in the final weeks of his presidency and the day before the House will
vote on a bill that strips a Senate-passed provision to add women to
Selective Service.

Instead, the compromise version now calls only for a commission to
study two related issues: Whether women should be included in Selective
Service, and whether the Selective Service system itself should be abolished.

The White House made clear that Obama supports an all-volunteer
force, and there are no plans to re-institute the draft. But Obama believes
adding women to the draft would serve two purposes: showing a commitment to
gender equality throughout the armed services, and fostering a sense of
public service that comes from requiring draft registration as a ritual of
adulthood.

The Pentagon also expressed its support for a universal draft
Thursday. "It makes sense for women to register for Selective Service
just as men must," said spokesman Peter Cook.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened all combat roles to women
earlier this year, which "only strengthens our all-volunteer force by
giving us access to 100% of America's population so we can recruit and
retain the most qualified individuals," Cook said.

Removing the ban on women in all combat roles opened more than
200,000 jobs to women, most of them in Army and Marine infantry units. As a
practical matter, women troops have been exposed to combat conditions for a
long time. More than 280,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan out of
nearly 2.5 million troops. In those wars, 152 women have died in battle or
from non-combat causes and more than 950 have been wounded in action.

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Armed
Services Committee, had no comment on the White House announcement, said
Dustin Walker, a spokesman.

The ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.,
applauded the announcement.

"We need to remove arbitrary barriers to service by women in
our armed forces," Reed said in a statement. "There is no draft in
today's military, but it is difficult to say we have true equality if we
continue with a Selective Service system that only requires compulsory
service from men."

Kate Germano, chief operating officer of the Service Women's
Action Network and a retired Marine officer, said her advocacy group views
the White House announcement as a significant step toward improving national
security. The draft would be revived only in time of a national emergency,
and excluding women would mean lesser qualified men would be selected over
women for the fight, she said.

"That doesn't make sense," Germano said. "We
support this wholeheartedly."

Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings
Institution, said the White House stand has value even if it doesn't
become policy.

"It's symbolic," O'Hanlon said. "But
it's a good statement."

No one has been drafted into the military since 1973 -- and indeed
the last enlisted man drafted into the military retired years ago.

Yet Selective Service still can have far-reaching consequences for
young men and -- under the policy change now supported by Obama -- young
women. Those who fail to register for the draft can be denied federal student
aid and loans, security clearances, government employment and job training
programs. For immigrants, failing to register can be a roadblock to
citizenship. Three-quarters of states make Selective Service a requirement
for driver's licenses and other government benefits.

For Obama, adding women to the draft also would eliminate an
inconsistency in the administration's policy on transgender status. The
Education Department, for example, is pressuring schools to recognize a
student's self-identified gender. But current Selective Service say the
sex at birth determines whether someone is subject to the registration
requirement.

Subjecting women to Selective Service has long made for intriguing
politics, often fraught with ulterior motives.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has introduced bills for years that
would add women to the draft -- but then also require a draft any time
Congress declares war or authorizes military force for conflicts such as
Iraq and Afghanistan. His calculation: Requiring a draft would make Congress
less likely to go to war in the first place. Senior military officials, over
the years, say they prefer the volunteer force for its professionalism.

On the other side of the spectrum is Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.,
a hawkish conservative and member of the Armed Services Committee who
proposed adding women to the draft earlier this year. But his proposal
essentially was offered as a dare, attempting to force an election-year vote
on a policy he opposes.

Hunter blasted the White House announcement on Thursday as
"purely politics, one last jab," given the action taken by
Congress.

Hunter noted that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, had opposed opening Marine infantry units to women
in his previous post as commandant.